It’s not the longest or the shortest, not the fastest (and probably not even the slowest), not the remotest, though certainly it isn’t urban, but the 7 Sisters Trail Race on the outskirts of Amherst, Massachusetts, might just be the most technical trail run in New England. And for anybody who isn’t aware, trail running in the Appalachian mountains can give any reportedly rocky and rooty trail out West a run for it’s money.

First officially held in 1991, this gem of a trail race exemplifies all the characteristics of a competitive, but low-key trail run. It's a 12-mile (approximately), out-and-back, unmarked (aside from the blazes that already mark the trail) mostly local affair with a hearty pancake breakfast afterward. (This year's race is scheduled for May 1.) But the runners who race for the top spots, and return to try again year after year, don’t sound particularly low-key about anything.

Top New England trail and mountain runner Ben Nephew said that the first time he ran the race, "I thought I did permanent damage to my quads. I couldn't walk right for most of a week." The course record (1:42:06, set by Paul Low in 2006) is the territory of national-class trail runners who make the U.S. Mountain Running Team. Of the 12 miles of the course, Nephew says, “there is only about a mile that is easily runnable.” There are steep hills, with sharp rocks and plenty of roots and then, when you least expect it, a ledge pops up that you need to jump off. There will be walking.

The start line is at the trailhead, on the shoulder of a state highway. No concessions can be made for the field size, so racers pack in tightly and the race director keeps instructions to a minimum.

The intensity of the trail seems to be a siren call to top trail runners and, according to Nephew, “It has always attracted the best trail runners in New England,” and recently has even started to draw from quick road runners who are trying their hand at trail racing. The narrow, single-track course makes the race at the top all the more exciting as there is no such thing as simply passing another runner. In 2009, Nephew raced Leigh Schmidt to the line, vying for second and third place. When they finished, at the bottom of a steep downhill, on the side of a state highway, his hand was on Schmidt’s back.

According to Debbie Livingston, who has run the race for the past 11 years, including twice while she was pregnant, most people only run 20 to 25 percent of the race. And she guesses 10 percent are trying to actually race while the rest of the field trying simply to see if they can do it – complete the trail, run the race.

The steep ascent at the start quickly separates runners to a single-file stream along the rocky trail.

The 2010 edition of the race was the biggest to date with 266 finishers. With numbers increasing for an out-and-back race on a singletrack trail, you might think bottlenecks and traffic jams are looming on the horizon. Livingston doesn’t seem concerned about the race’s rising popularity. “It’s a very grass-roots race and I think that’s why people like it,” she said. People might get frustrated about the clogged course, but, according to Livingston, “The race is what it is and people know that when they come out.”

So times get slower because the trail is clogged with people? That means simply that people run slower times, not that the race is ruined, or even tarnished, because more people wanted to experience it. Livingston recounted the years that someone set up a portable climbing wall at the start/finish. “It was like, whoa, what happened to our grass-roots race? But then that kinda faded away.” The race may grow in size, until it reaches a point where it loses it's appeal to the outsiders and it will shrink back to the local affair it was when it began. This sort of free-market, organic growth and self-regulation — with the organizers stubbornly refusing to, say, stagger the start, or cap entries — will allow the race to expand and contract as the location and terrain allow.

The roots of the race date back to the late 1980s, when Fred Pilon and Peter Crisci finished a hard run along the Metacomet-Monadnock Trail between Mount Holyoke and Mount Hitchcock. That area is known as The Seven Sisters for the series of ridgeline knobs offering views over the Pioneer Valley. Enthusiastic about their effort over the supremely challenging terrain they decided to make the run into a race. On the designated morning however, a forest ranger met them at the designated start area and informed them they couldn’t have a race there. Undeterred, they instantaneously declared the event a fun group run, not a race, and proceeded as planned.

From there, the race degraded into a postal competition in which everyone posted their times on a wall at the local running store. Several years later, a member of the Friends of the Holyoke Range (FoHR) organization noticed the times posted on the wall and inquired with Pilon what they were about. The FoHR group, which purchases land to extend the park and maintains the trails, was able to successfully collaborate with the Forest Service and the race became supported by, and a fund-raiser for, the organization. This mutually beneficial relationship continues today. Scott Hunter, a former board member of the FoHR, took over directing the race after the previous RD passed away.

“We do not limit the field, so anyone who wants to run it can,” Scott says. So if you’re so inclined, get yourself to Western Massachussetts some May and take what this race has to offer.